N. Lauderdale Council Proposes Doubling Pay

NORTH LAUDERDALE — City Council members were about a minute into their discussion of the possibility of doubling their salaries when they got their first public response.

"You knew what the salary was when you ran for council," Peggy Saraniero, a 30-year city resident, said from her front-row seat in the Council chamber.

"I remember when they made $25 a month."

City leaders seem prepared for strong reactions to Councilman Frank Messana's proposal this week to boost salaries from $6,000 to $12,000 for the part-time elected officials. That's why they say they want city staff to study the issue over the next month, focusing on how much elected officials in neighboring cities earn.

"It's something that the residents will understand," Messana said. "In doing some research with other cities, it seems that we are one of the lowest-paid councils around."

Councilmen Michael Zeitchik and Mike Natale agreed the city needed to at least study the issue.

With all the elected officials' responsibilities to boards, committees and meetings that required travel, their work wasn't part-time, regardless of the official job description, he said.

"There are additional costs to being in this office, to do your job properly," Zeitchik said. "More and more of our duties are spent in other-than-city duties. We should give deference to this request."

North Lauderdale officials said they hoped to use the results of a study paid for by the city of Coral Springs, before that city ended up raising salaries for its commissioners last year. After looking at those numbers, the council could vote on the issue this summer.

But Mayor Jack Brady sounded less enthusiastic about the idea than some of his colleagues.

"I believe you do a lot of this out of civic duty," said Brady, whose position also is part-time. "I'd have to look at the [study] to see if I really deserve a raise. It's hard for me to [understand] a complete 100 percent raise."

Salaries for elected officials in North Lauderdale, a city of about 28,000 residents, fall well short of those in several west Broward communities.

Margate pays its commissioners $13,500 and its mayor $14,300 a year. Lauderhill commissioners earn $14,400 annually, plus $350 a month for expenses, while the mayor makes $18,000. Plantation council members receive about $22,800.

In addition to their salaries, North Lauderdale Council members are paid $350 a month to cover work expenses, said the City Clerk's Office.

Without raising salaries, people who worked steady jobs were scared away from seeking city offices, said Messana, a real estate agent. A $6,000 increase wasn't much, he said, compared with the income Council members might sacrifice in fulfilling their public duties.

But those arguments weren't enough to convince Saraniero.

"I'm not getting a raise," Saraniero said. "My water bill went up three times last month."

Sean Cavanagh can be reached at scavanagh@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2009.